Common Knowledge
by Lanie L Sullivan
Summary: Another response to the "show tunes" challenge. One man two women threefold trouble! Set at the end of "Playing For Keeps." One-shot.


Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. The plot is mine, but not the characters. This story is meant for enjoyment purposes only. No infringement is intended.

Author's Note: This is another response to the challenge issued by Janet in the FB group to use a "show tune" in a fic. This one takes place at and after the tag of "Playing For Keeps," to explore both Amanda and Francine's thoughts regarding a certain dashing spy. The song, "I Know Him So Well," is from the musical "Chess," and was composed by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Hope you enjoy.

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"I missed you too," Amanda told Lee warmly when faced with his hesitation at expressing his feelings. His only reply was to stammer a hasty, "Uh...yeah...I'll see you soon," followed by him abruptly hanging up the phone. She stared at the receiver for a moment in astonishment. Would it have been so hard for him to admit that he missed her? She slammed the handset back onto its cradle and walked it back to its place on the kitchen counter, setting it down a bit more forcefully that she probably should have.

She shook her head in consternation. She couldn't figure his behavior out at all. He was so hot and cold toward her. She'd thought at the beginning of his assignment that he'd actually sounded disappointed that he would have to go with Francine instead of her. It had seemed like he wanted them to have that weekend away together, but now she wasn't so sure. She'd even foolishly hoped that the time apart would help him to see what was waiting for him at home. But then again, she'd made that same mistake with Joe.

 _Nothing is so good it lasts eternally,_

She felt a sudden chill as she thought of it and pulled her robe more tightly around her as she wandered aimlessly into the living room. She dropped down to the window seat and stared blankly out the front window at the empty street in front of her house, longing to see the familiar silver corvette pull up to the curb, but who was she kidding? While they had their good moments, they had far from the perfect storybook romance. Every time they would have a great moment together, something or someone came along and ruined it.

 _Perfect situations must go wrong,_

Still, she couldn't help longing for more. There were moments...just moments when he would look at her and she could swear that she saw the same love shining from his eyes that she knew was in hers every time that she looked at him. Or was she only dreaming and seeing what she wanted to as she had with Joe?

 _But this has never yet prevented me  
From wanting far too much for far too long_

She wondered now if he'd pull one of his typical marathon sidestepping tactics. If backpedalling were an Olympic event, he'd take the gold for sure. She blamed herself. Since Joe's returned, she'd started being more forward, openly flirting with him more. Now, she'd outright told him that she missed him. Had that been too much for his fragile heart to handle?

 _Looking back, I could have done it differently  
Won a few more moments, who can tell?_

She knew that he had some deep-seated pain. He'd lost his partner who'd taken a bullet to the head for him. He'd lost Dorothy, who'd been gunned down right in front of him. He'd lost his parents at a very young age though she didn't really know all of those details because he still wasn't ready to talk about it. Then there was Eva...he'd loved her and she'd betrayed him. She was pretty sure that he was afraid to fully trust her with his heart because of all of those things. He may never trust her that much, she thought sadly.

 _But it took time to understand the man,  
Now at least I know, I know him well._

Francine stood in her hotel room pacing like an angry alley cat, fuming at Lee's behavior. They were supposed to have been working together this weekend. She'd thought it would be like old times and they'd be a team again like before Amanda had walked into his life. "Amanda," she snorted. This weekend had been all about her even though she'd been nowhere around. She thought back to what she'd once told her in a moment of weakness. "People leave."

 _No one in your life is with you constantly,  
No one is completely on your side._

She thought of how true that was. She'd learned that lesson well in her youth, first by her parents abandoning her to be raised by nannies, and then shipping her off to boarding school as soon as she was old enough. Then there was Jonathan, the man she'd planned to marry...then there was Lee. Okay, so that wasn't a great romance, but still she missed the friendship and camaraderie they had once had.

 _And though I'd move my world to be with him,  
Still the gap between us is too wide._

She wandered to the window just in time to see Lee flinging his bags into the trunk of his car. She shook her head. He must have packed in record time. Of course, he had to get home to his precious Amanda, she thought bitterly. Not that she was jealous of her in that sense. No, she'd learned her lesson a long time ago about the dangers of being romantically involved with a man like Lee. She only wished she'd known better then.

 _Looking back, I could have played it differently,  
Learned about the man before I fell._

She had to give herself a little credit though. She had been trying to recover from a broken heart over Jonathan's abandonment when she'd hooked up with Lee. She thought that jumping right back on the horse had been the right thing to do. The best way to forget about one man was to find another, right? Except that had blown up her face because she'd found herself projecting her thwarted feelings for Jonathan onto Lee.

 _But I was ever so much younger then,_

 _Now at least I know, I know him well._

Francine had heard all the rumors, of course. The elusive Scarecrow was a confirmed bachelor. How could she not have heard? The Agency was rife with rumors all the time. She'd always marveled that for people who made their living keeping secrets, there didn't seem to be any secrets about anyone's personal life. She hadn't listened though. She'd been so sure that she'd be the one to change all of that. How naive she'd been. Now, she just wished she could have her best friend back. It's not that she minded having Amanda around. She'd sort of gotten used to her now, but she was seething with jealousy that Amanda had Lee's friendship, in fact, had him wrapped around her little finger, when she no longer did.

Amanda let out a sigh as she continued to stare blankly out into the street. She'd known from the beginning who Lee was. He'd even told her. "You've heard the word...loner..." Yet, there was something... _something_ in his eyes that told her differently. That contrary to his assertion that he didn't need anyone, he was in dire need of someone to care for him, the way that he'd never been cared for in his youth. She was a mother, so attuned to things that others weren't. Mother's intuition, they called it. Not that her feelings for him were in any way motherly. But maybe she was wrong. Maybe that intuition had failed her this time.

 _Didn't I know how it would go?  
If I knew from the start,  
Why am I falling apart?_

 _Isn't it madness he can't be mine?  
But in the end, he needs a little more than me,  
More security, he needs his fantasy and freedom,  
I know him so well._

Francine was jarred from her thoughts by the ringing of the phone by her hotel's bedside. She snatched it up with a terse. "Hello."

"Hey, it's me," Lee responded. "I...uh...I just wanted to let you know that it wasn't anything personal. I really do miss hanging out with you the way we used to, but I made a promise-"

"To Amanda," she interrupted. "I saw you getting in the car." She had to admit, to herself at least, that she did feel just the slightest twinge of guilt at the charade she'd pulled on Amanda, making it seem like they were whooping it up when in reality she'd only wished they had been having the fun they used to when working cases together.

"Yeah, look, it doesn't mean I'm not still your friend. Maybe we can grab a drink sometime and I can tell you all about it. I admit that I think I'm in over my head here and I could use some advice from a friendly face."

"Hmm...maybe," she answered nonchalantly, though inside she was leaping for joy that he actually wanted to confide in her about his obvious romance with Amanda. She couldn't let him know that though, not with the way he'd been blowing her off all weekend. "I'll have to check my calendar when I get back and see if I can pencil you in. You know that I always have a busy social schedule."

"Uh...yeah...okay...whenever..."

"Yeah, we'll see." _Take that,_ she thought as she hung up the phone with a satisfied smirk.

Amanda only left the window and her tortured thoughts when she heard the phone ring. She answered with a tentative, "Yeah," sure that it was Lee on the other end.

"Amanda, it's me. I'm on my way home. I should be back in D.C in about an hour or so. Are you gonna' be up for awhile? I'd really like to see you face to face...to...you know...talk about things. This telephone tag just isn't working for me."

Did he think it was working for her? She thought with a shake of her head and responded, "Oh, gee, I don't know. It's getting awfully late and you know, I _am_ still fighting this cold." Her heart did a somersault in her chest that he wanted to see her, but she wasn't ready to face him yet, not after the way he'd hung up on her earlier or the way he'd let Francine ambush her on the phone, yammering about how much fun they were having. To be fair, he probably didn't know that that was what Francine had had on her mind, but still why put her on the phone in the first place when he knew they weren't exactly bosom buddies? Granted, there wasn't the tension between them that there used to be, but still she couldn't help sensing that Francine saw her as some sort of rival.

"Oh...uh...well, I...uh...I guess it can wait...you know...until you're feeling better," he sputtered.

"Yeah. Goodnight," she replied and hung up the phone, a grin of triumph spreading across her face when she knew by his disappointed tone that she'd gotten to him.

 _I know him so well._


End file.
